Rome | Page 6

present we will have him into
prison."
He was delighted to hear that the horse was not l'Etoile's property, and
said that if I liked to call at nine o'clock he would have further news for
me.
I said I would come. I really had a good deal to do at Rome. I wanted to
see Cardinal Bernis in the first place, but I postponed everything to the
affair of the moment.
I went back to the inn and was told by a valet de place, whom Sir B----
M---- had hired, that the Englishman had gone to bed.

We were in need of a carriage, so I summoned the landlord and was
astonished to find myself confronted by Roland in person.
"How's this?" I said. "I thought you were still at the Place d'Espagne."
"I have given my old house to my daughter who has married a
prosperous Frenchman, while I have taken this palace where there are
some magnificent rooms."
"Has your daughter many foreigners staying at her house now?"
"Only one Frenchman, the Comte de l'Etoile, who is waiting for his
equipage to come on. He has an excellent horse, and I am thinking of
buying it from him."
"I advise you to wait till to-morrow, and to say nothing about the
advice I have given you."
"Why should I wait?"
"I can't say any more just now."
This Roland was the father of the Therese whom I had loved nine years
before, and whom my brother Jean had married in 1762, a year after my
departure. Roland told me that my brother was in Rome with Prince
Beloselski, the Russian ambassador to the Court of Saxony.
"I understood that my brother could not come to Rome."
"He came with a safe-conduct which the Dowager Electress of Saxony
obtained for him from the Holy Father. He wants his case to be re-tried,
and there he makes a mistake, for if it were heard a hundred times the
sentence would continue the same. No one will see him, everyone
avoids him, even Mengs will have nothing to say to him."
"Mengs is here, is he? I though he had been at Madrid."
"He has got leave of absence for a year, but his family remains in
Spain."

After hearing all this news which was far from pleasant to me, as I did
not wish to see Mengs or my brother, I went to bed, leaving orders that
I was to be roused in time for dinner.
In an hour's time I was awakened by the tidings that some one was
waiting to give me a note. It was one of the bargello's men, who had
come to take over l'Etoile's effects.
At dinner I told Sir B---- M---- what I had done, and we agreed that he
should accompany me to the bargello's in the evening.
In the afternoon we visited some of the principal palaces, and after
taking Betty back to the inn we went to the bargello, who told us our
man was already in prison, and that it would cost very little to send him
to the galleys.
"Before making up my mind I should like to speak to him," said Sir
B---- M----."
"You can do so to-morrow. He confessed everything without any
trouble, and made a jest of it, saying he was not afraid of any
consequences, as the young lady had gone with him of her own free
will. I shewed him the bill of exchange, but he evinced no emotion
whatever. He told me that he was an actor by profession, but also a man
of rank. As to the horse, he said he was at perfect liberty to sell it, as
the watch he had left in pledge was worth more than the beast."
I had forgotten to inform the bargello that the watch aforesaid belonged
to Betty.
We gave the worthy official fifty crowns, and supped with Betty, who
had, as I have remarked, recovered her trunk, and had been busying
herself in putting her things to rights.
She was glad to hear that the rascal was in prison, but she did not seem
to wish to pay him a visit.
We went to see him in the afternoon of the next day.

The bargello had assigned us an advocate, who made out a document
demanding payment by the prisoner of the expenses of the journey, and
of his arrest, together with a certain sum as compensation to the person
whom he had deceived, unless he could prove his right to the title of
count in the course of six weeks.
We found l'Etoile with this document in his hand; someone was
translating it for him into French.
As soon as the rascal saw me, he said, with a laugh, that I